Art of stiffening the uppers of shoes



May 1943 L. A. LO'AKES ETAL ART OF STIFFENING THE UPPERS OF SHOES Filed April 3, 1942 Fig.1

Patented May 18, 1943 ART on STIFFENING 'rna UPPERS or 1 SHOES Leslie Arthur Loakes, Leicester, and George Bell,- Sr., Northampton, England, assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Borough of Flemw ington, N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application April 3, 1942, Serial No. 437,496

In Great'Britain April 28, 1941 4 Claims.

This invention relates to the stifiening of the rear portions of the uppers of shoes and to a stiffener used in the practiceof the method.

In the manufacture of a welt shoe in which the insole has a continuous sewing rib and. the welt d upper materials are sewed to this rib all around the heel end of the insole, difficulty is sometimes encountered at said heel end due to an objectionable thickness of materials. These materials consist usually of a welt, an upper, a counter stiffener and a lining, all more or less pleated, which must be sewed to the insole rib by a single line of stitches, known as the inseam.

According to the present invention the thickness of the materials around the heel end of the shoe is reduced by the use of a counter stiffener the rear portion of the inturned flange of which is comparatively narrow, and the side portions of which are wider. Such a counter stifl'ener is incorporated in the assembled upper of a shoe which is mounted upon a last together with an insole having a continuous sewing rib extending around its heel end. The narrow rear portion of the inturned flange of the counter stiffener overlies the substantially flat feather of the insole, and the wider side portions bridge the angle between the feather and the sewing rib. The Welting operation, by which the welt is stitched to the upper, lining, counter stiffener and. insole, bends the side portions of the inturned flange of the counter stiffener inward to cause it to fit into the angle between the feather and the sewing rib. The counter stiffener is thus firmly fastened in place, the sewing around the rear portion of the shoe being facilitated by reason of the fact that the laminated material in this locality, through which the inseam passes, is of reduced thickness.

Referring to the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective of a counter stiffener in which the present invention is embodied;

Fig. 2 is a cross section of a portion. of a shoe in which the counter stiffener has been incorporated, the section having been taken at a locality forward of the extreme heel end and including a portion of the last; and

Fig. 3 is a similar cross section taken at the extreme heel end.

The counter stiffener lil is shown bottom-sideup in all the figures since it is usually incorporated in a shoe while in that position. It will be referred to, however, as though it were right side up in the position which it occupies in the finished shoe. This counter stilfener has extending along its lower margin an inturned flange including a narrow portion l2 around the heel end which is fully flattened and lies in a plane substantially perpendicular to the heightwise dimension of the counter stiffener, and wider side portions I4 which extend inward and downward.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the last is] indicated at 16', the insole at I 8, its sewing rib at Is; the welt at 28, the lining at 22, the upperat 24, and the counter stiffener at It. The inseam, which fastens all these together, is indicated at 26.

When assembled with a shoe upper and insole upon a last, the rear portion l2 of the stiffener will lie flat over the insole feather outside the inseam rib and will not be penetrated by the inseam, as shown in Fig. 3, while the side portions M will lie partly over th feather of the insole and partly over the outside face of the sewing rib, and will be penetrated by the inseam, as shown in Fig. 2, thus causing the stiffener to be securely held in place in the shoe. It may be noted that if, as may sometimes occur, the rear portion I2 of the inturned flange is a little wider than the width of the feather of the insole with which it is used, the skived edge of the flange may be bent slightly when the counter stiffener is pushed into place, so as to be penetrated by the inseam. Such an occurrence, however, due to the thinness of said skived edge, causes no difflculty.

The side portions M- of the flange are not subjected to heavy pressure in the molding operation as is the rear portion l2, and thus, being more flexible, are easily conformed to the insole feather and the face of the rib as well as penetrated by the inseam. The rear portions I2 of the flange, which lies around the extreme heel end of a shoe is necessarily fully pleated owing to the pronounced curvature in that locality; and, in order to produce the narrow flange l2 and to avoid its being of undue thickness, a specially shaped knife is used to cut out stiffener blanks from board. There are thus produced blanks having recessed portions at the middle of their lower edges, such recessed portions producing narrow flanges in the molded blanks, as indicated at l 2. There is also provided a special cavity in the matrix roll of the skiving machine by which, prior to molding, the margins of the stiffener blanks are reduced in thickness, this special cavity causing the recessed middle portions of the blanks to be skived as fully as the remaining wider portions.

Although as shown in Fig. 1 the narrow rear portion l2 extends only around the extreme heel end, for some classes of work it may extend farther around the heel on each side, for example as far as the points indicated by the numerals with an insole having a sewing rib extending around its heel end upon a last, and'sewing a welt to the upper material, the rib and the counter stifiener by stitches which pass through the wider side portions of the inturned-flange of the counter stiffener.

2. A counter stifiener having an inturned flange, that portion of the flang at the rear end of the stiffener being comparatively narrow and extending inward in a plane substantially perpendicular to the heightwise dimension of the stifiener, and the side portions of the flange being wider than the rear portion and extending inward and downward.

3. A counter stifiener having an inturned flange, that portion of the flange at the rear end of the stiffener being comparatively narrow and stiff and extending inward in a plane substantially perpendicular to the heightwise dimension of the stiffener, and the side portions of the flange being wider and more flexible than the rear portion and extending inward and down ward.

4. That improvement in the method of making a shoe having a sewed heel seat which comprises incorporating in the upper material of the shoe a counter stiffener having an inturned flange the rear portion of which is comparatively narrow and stiff and the side portions of which are wider and more flexible, mounting upon a last the upper together with an insole having a sewing rib extending around its heel end in such manner that'the narrow, stifi rear portion of the flange of the stiflener lies substantially flat on the feather of the insole while the wider, more flexible side portions of the flange bridge the angle between the feather of the insole and the sewing rib, and fastening a welt in place by a row of stitches which pass through the upper material, the rib and the wider portions of the flange of the stiiiener.

LESLIE ARTHUR LOAKE S.

GEORGE PELL, SR. 

